There are plenty of stories about men whose transplants look good after the successful procedures that erased years from a hairline and gave the subject the youthful gusto to match. If you’re considering hair restoration and want to look more like the second scenario than the first, you may be wondering what the most reliable hair transplant method is these days. FUE is an advanced surgical hair restoration technique. It’s less invasive than traditional hair transplants.
“One of the most important factors when it comes to a hair transplant is the extraction method. The focus here is the quality of grafts, rather than quantity. Surgeons use a punch needle to extract grafts in the FUE procedure. It ensures minimal damage in the donor area. A well-qualified surgeon with experience and special skills must perform this procedure. Therefore, you must choose the right surgeon for your surgery.”
Dr Gajanan Jadhao stated this. He is one of the most esteemed Hair Transplant Surgeon in India; He is also an owner of one of the successful clinics of hair transplant in Pune, namely La Densitae Hair Transplant Centre.
Hair transplantation can provide a modest change in hair fullness. For dramatic changes, people may wish to opt for skin flap surgery, tissue expansion, or scalp reduction techniques. India has also emerged out as a hub for hair transplant treatment. In all the major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.etc, one can find a good number of best hair transplant surgeons.
Lets first see what the process of hair transplant is:
- During a hair transplant, a surgeon extracts your hair from your donor area and implants it onto the recipient area or bald area. This donor area is usually the area from the back of your scalp. This zone is the “permanent hair zone”. The grafts are extracted from this donor hair zone. These grafts are removed either by the FUT or FUE procedure.
- In the FUT procedure, the surgeon extracts a thin strip of 4 to 6 inches. He then divides this strip into 500 to 2000 grafts. The number of grafts needed depends on your hair type, hair quality and your donor area.
- The second procedure is FUE. This procedure is a relatively recent and advanced method. In this method, the hair transplant surgeon doesn’t make strips, preferably extracts individual hair follicles. The entire scalp is shaved off before the procedure, and these grafts are then individually placed on the head.
- After extraction of these grafts, both the procedures are more or less the same. The surgeon cleans the scalp, numbs the area and makes slits on the scalp with the help of a needle or scalpel. He then implants a graft into each slit. Usually, one single graft has 2 to 4 hair. The duration of the FUE depends on the size of the transplant. The number of grafts needed also depends on the transplant area. Usually, one needs about 1000 to 5000 follicular units.
- The procedure usually takes about 8 hours at least. After the surgery, the scalp is generally susceptible. Patients will feel some pain in the scalp as the anaesthesia begins to wear off. The surgeon may recommend certain medications to manage the pain. So after 2- 3 weeks of the surgery, new hair starts to grow and shed. However, don’t worry as this is part of the usual healing process. In 6 to 9 months, new hair starts to grow again.
Difference between FUE and FUT:
- What makes FUT different from FUE is also the intensity of scarring. Both these procedures cause some or the other scarring. FUT causes a linear scar due to the extraction of a strip. On the other hand, the FUE procedure causes small circular spots; these are not very noticeable. However, this differs from patient to patient.
- It is essential to extract the grafts precisely in the FUE procedure. The survival rate of these grafts is more in the FUT procedure. If these grafts aren’t handled correctly in either of the methods, then these can damage healthy hair follicles which can then further damage them.
- However, post the FUT procedures, patients may feel some tension on the scalp. It fades away eventually. The healing time for the FUE procedure is faster than the FUT procedure. The pain felt during the FUE procedure is almost close to no problem. Patients may feel some numbness during the FUT procedure, which one doesn’t think during the FUE procedure.
Advantages of FUE: So now, let us look at some of the benefits of the FUE method.
- The first advantage is minimal pain. The pain & swelling felt during and after the FUE procedure is lesser as compared to the FUT procedure.
- The second advantage is minimal scarring. There are no visible scars in the FUE. The wounds are between 0.8 mm to 1 mm. These scars get better in 4 to 5 days. There is no linear scar in the FUE; therefore, FUE is more preferred over FUT.
- The third advantage of FUE is the availability of the donor area. During the FUE, the donor area can be other parts of the body as well, such as the beard area.
- The fourth advantage is no cuts and stitches. There is no cutting and stitching involved in this procedure. Therefore, it is more preferred for a body hair transplant.
See, both these procedures can bring you satisfactory results. One cannot say that only one of these methods is better than the others. Both these methods have their pros and cons. What way is better for you is something you need to discuss with your surgeon. Your surgeon will assess your scalp, your existing hair quality and density. They evaluate your donor to recipient ratio, carry out some comprehensive tests and then recommend the right extraction method for you.